


Reloading Memories

by LaffeeTaffee



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Ah yiss, Based on fellow artist's character, Desperate confessions, Drama, Ella can finally stop looking for him, F/M, I had no idea Ralph was so hot, Kissing in the Rain, One-Shot, Ralph redemption, Ralph was in love, Ralph's damage is actually pretty sexy, Ralph's history, Romance, So is Ella, implied attempted rape, reuinion, so much love it hurts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-28
Updated: 2020-04-28
Packaged: 2021-03-02 04:28:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,507
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23899018
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LaffeeTaffee/pseuds/LaffeeTaffee
Summary: Deviancy carries a blank price tag. Since rA9, some androids found sanctuary in the form of a shiny plastic hand, and others paid the ultimate price. For Ralph, the cost was too much to bear. Once, his existence meant so much more than a dirty tarp wrapped around his broken shell of a body, knife clutched protectively in his hands, shivering in the corner of a ruined house while every sound, every calling voice, every beeping car could signal the return of the humans that had left him so badly maimed. The scrambling mix of electrical signals and glitched software had no room for anything else. No space for the hands that once held him, the sweet voice over the sound of the guitar, dark brown hair that fell on either side which he had to push back to find that beautiful smile...No. Ralph didn't remember what the light looked like. What it felt like to have tangible hope in his arms. How precious it tasted. And he had no way of knowing that it was searching for him in the darkness, roaming endlessly even after years had passed. Could a tangled mess of broken biocomponents attached to a host of software errors still remember what it was like to dream? To hope?To love?
Relationships: Ralph (Detroit: Become Human) & Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 8





	Reloading Memories

**Author's Note:**

> Towards the beginning of my DBH obsession, I checked DeviantArt to see if there were any others who were head over heels for non-Connor characters, and found Vogelfreyh. She has the most amazing art, and she put it to use on Ella and Ralph, a most adorable pairing. I fell in love with those two and was stunned by the amount of detail in the drawings. Vogelfreyh created a whole world for them, a history for Ella, the meeting of Ella and Ralph, and the true reason for Ralph's destruction. I'll sum it up in as much respect and detail as I can, but you can find Vogelfreyh's premise at her DeviantArt here: https://www.deviantart.com/vogelfreyh/art/Reloading-memories-750821361
> 
> Ella Sanders is an artistic and reclusive college student at the Detroit University studying law via the pressure of her father who is a strict lawyer. The harder he pushes her, the more she defies him. Her only escape is in her dreams where she can truly be free from the tyranny of those around her and bask in the nature of the world which she believes holds more than such a basic existence. This is her freedom, her future, her hope. It's during one of these mad dashes for escape when she meets Ralph. A compromising rebellion of carrying out her studies in an open park leads her right into his path, where he disrupts her by accidentally scattering her documents. Such an unusual mistake for a perfect machine. She finds herself in this being with so many cold expectations directed towards him. An android built for one basic purpose without any room for meaning. She would find it in him. Or perhaps... he would find it in her.
> 
> Their bond isn't immune to the repercussions of android sentiment. As tensions rise between the opposing factions of android vs machine public opinion, Ralph and Ella find themselves caught in the middle of it. They are set upon one night by a band of angry delinquents prowling for a chance to forge their own version of order. Their attention is first on Ralph, but quickly includes Ella when she fights to defend him. To them, she is no better than the android she is desperate to protect. They beat her, burn her, and cast her aside. From the ground, she watches as Ralph is dragged from her before she finally succumbs to her injuries.
> 
> After the wounds fade into scars and the passage of time confirms that she is indeed alone without her Ralph, Ella focuses on the only thing that makes sense in her life. She must find him. Beyond the ear of her father, she spends every waking moment digging for information, for clues, for anything that can lead her back to him. And every tiny hint of a trail is only as hopeful as the tragedy in its failure. But she cannot give up. If she loses faith, she loses the world which Ralph gave his life to create for her.
> 
> So this is the moment, years later when hope has stagnated into a miserable existence of searching and finding nothing, Ella stumbles upon a broken, fearful lone android in the ruins of Detroit's shadow. He is nothing like the Ralph she remembered, and yet something in this manic knife-wielding shell of a person strikes a particular familiarity in the form of a man who once showed her that the world could be as beautiful as the place she sought in her dreams...
> 
> I hope you enjoy my little version of Ralph and Ella, and if Vogelfreyh is reading this, may it satisfy a part of your love for those two like it has mine!

(Art by Vogelfreyh: <https://www.deviantart.com/vogelfreyh/art/Reloading-memories-750821361>)

She had to stop walking. It wasn’t up to her anymore. The fog had settled so low over the city that the sleek plastic architecture had vanished into the darkness, leaving Detroit in a blend of blurry rain and rotting civilization. The streets were beginning to fill with water, creating rivers along the edges of the road so that they were nearly impossible to cross. It wasn’t just cold. It was brutal. Each drop of rain felt like pins and needles, igniting her skin so that she couldn’t tell if she was burning or freezing. It would only get worse from here. But she also knew she couldn’t go back.

An overhang offered her some momentary relief. Ella wrapped her arms around herself and paused, the torrential rain creating a curtain of water around her. She rested her back against the side of the building and hunched slightly to warm herself up. Clouds of steam rose in front of her as she breathed, and she did her best to keep her posture steady from the shivering that was threatening to take control. She couldn’t help a miserable breath of laughter as she looked up through the darkness at the weather. She’d been worse, but this was certainly pushing the limit.

The city seemed to be surviving much better than she was. Buses parted the river of water, creating waves that lapped against the curb and spilled onto the sidewalk. Several people moved along the opposite street seeking shelter in the buildings they were headed towards. They at least had jackets and umbrellas. Ella made a pitiful attempt to pull her denim vest tighter around her. She’d never felt so exposed against the elements. There hadn’t been time to grab anything warmer when she’d bolted from the house. Now she was beginning to wonder if it had been worth it at all.

She shrank on the spot, gritting her teeth as she fought to stay warm. That residual determination was nagging at her, urging her to continue on. If what she’d heard was true, she was only a few streets away. But even as she considered it, she knew she wouldn’t be able to move even if she tried to force herself. This was too hard. It was too much of a struggle for what she knew logically to be pointless anyways. It was pointless every time, and it would always be pointless. And yet every time she heard something new, she had to do this as if her very existence depended on it. If she didn’t, she would spend every moment of every day wondering if this time was the one she would finally find him.

A voice caught her attention, and she looked up. She hadn’t even noticed the group of figures standing a few feet from her, and she did her best to straighten and pull herself from her worried thoughts. Someone was motioning towards her, his face hidden under a thick hood.

“You’re working hard tonight, babe. Why don’t you just call it a rain check?”

Ella shook her head slightly as she absorbed what the man had said. “What?”

He took a step towards her, and she heard faint laughter from the group behind him. “I said you’re working hard tonight. You looking to make it worth it?”

Ella could only stare at him. She gripped her arms tighter as the man took another step towards her so that she could just make out his eyes glinting in the darkness.

“Tell you what. There’s a motel on the corner. What do you say we call it even and get you someplace warm to stay? Gives you one, two, three…” The man counted the figures. “Five customers. That’s a pretty good deal if you ask me.”

A sickening knot formed in Ella’s stomach. She watched the man warily as she took a small step back from him.

“Come on, I’m offering you a favor.” The man stepped forward after her. “It’s cold tonight. We can get you warm again.”

“Just leave me alone,” said Ella. She noticed with a jolt of anxiety that the group had started to follow her.

“What kind of guy would I be if I just left you out here all alone?” The man reached out and gripped her arm.

Ella reacted automatically and quickly, ripping her arm away from him and stumbling backwards. “Back off!”

More laughter. The man threw a glance behind him. “She’s got some  _ spice! _ ”

Ella didn’t hesitate. Without a second thought, she turned and bolted blindly through the curtain of water. She had no idea where she was going or what she was doing. As she rounded a corner, she could hear splashing behind her and wild laughter.

“Where you going! Thought you wanted company!”

A frantic energy burned through her as she raced down the alleyway, dodging around objects that she didn’t recognize in the dark rain. Her stamina was almost artificial, completely ignoring the exhaustion she’d had only moments before and putting her into overdrive. She sprinted down another alleyway and found herself back out onto the street, the traffic lights and signs blurring overhead. There was no time to see where she was. After a split second decision, she turned left and continued to run. Distant splashes told her she was still being followed.

A bus was approaching up ahead. Ella threw a panicked glance over her shoulder, then darted out into the street. There was a loud blast from the horn and Ella was momentarily blinded by the glare of the headlights. She could just hear faint shouting as the bus swerved behind her, sending out a wave of water that nearly swept her legs out from under her. She forced herself to keep running, the adrenaline practically sending her system into a shock.

She turned again as she made it to the sidewalk, the posts of an old wooden fence flashing by her. With a sudden pang of terror, she realized there was a break in the fence up ahead. She gripped the fence in both hands, then deftly spun herself through it and slammed her back against the other side.

Her chest heaved as she closed her eyes, tensing up and doing her best to stay quiet even though the rain roared loudly around her. As the seconds went by, she could hear faint voices from the other side of the fence. They were laughing and talking although she couldn’t hear what was being said. With an almost painful relief, she listened as the voices moved further away, blending into the sound of the rain. She didn’t move until they were so faint that they disappeared completely.

Ella moved off of the fence, still struggling to control her breathing. The electric energy coursed through her and she found herself shaking. It took her a moment to convince herself that the danger had passed. That had been too close. She was going to get herself killed at this rate.

She looked through a hole in the fence out at the street. There were no signs in this area. The stores looked completely unfamiliar and the place seemed almost deserted. She leaned sideways slightly to gaze further down the street and squinted through the fog. She had no idea where she was. The path she’d been following was lost, and she didn’t know where to even begin to backtrack her panicked escape.

With a frustrated sigh, she leaned against the fence and rested her forehead against it. Part of her simply wanted to curl up somewhere if it meant she would at least be safe. This was too much for her to handle. She didn’t have the energy to be doing this, let alone running for her life. All on the faint hope that had been disappointing her for so many years. She should have expected this but she also knew she wouldn’t the next time this inevitably happened again. This was her world. Her existence. And despite what she knew to be right, she knew if she did anything otherwise, she would never be able to call it living.

She raised her head off the wooden fence and gazed out through the hole at the street. There was no point in stopping now. If she took advantage of the energy the adrenaline had given her, she might at least make it somewhere that she could pass out in relative comfort.

“You shouldn’t be here.”

Ella spun, her heart hammering in her chest. She looked around but only saw shadows. With fresh anxiety, she pressed her back against the fence.

“You… you shouldn’t be here.”

Something moved in the darkness. Ella watched it in horrible trepidation as it took shape, stepping into the faint light. She shrank slightly against the fence, her body tensing in uncontrolled terror. The figure stopped a few feet from her, raising a hand as it lowered part of what appeared to be a thick sheet wrapped over its head. Through the rain, Ella could only just make out the outline of curved hair.

The figure raised something at her. “Don’t… belong… you  _ don’t  _ belong here!”

Ella scrambled against the fence, feeling for the break. “I’m─ I’m sorry, I didn’t mean─”

“Humans. Humans don’t belong here. They don’t!”

There was a sharp glint in the faint light, and Ella’s heart nearly froze in her chest. The figure was holding a long blade in one hand.

With renewed panic, Ella moved along the fence, desperately pounding the wooden boards in search of the break. The figure moved after her, his footsteps splashing as he stepped into the mud.

“I’m sorry! I’m just going to leave.” Ella threw a quick glance behind her and saw a beam of light indicating the exit through the fence. “I don’t want to cause problems.”

“You don’t belong. You don’t. You don’t.” There was a flashing of metal and then the sound of broken wood as the figure stabbed the wooden fence while he moved. “ _ You don’t! _ ”

Something caught Ella’s foot, and with a belligerent shock, she found herself stumbling into the mud. She quickly scrambled back onto her elbows and pushed herself backwards, still gazing up at the figure.

“You’re here to hurt! Humans only want to hurt!”

Ella breathed a frantic yelp as she gripped the fence, forcing herself up onto her feet. Space opened next to her, and she reached through it as she moved towards the break in the wooden panels. There was another flash as the figure stabbed the fence again.

“No more hurting! No one will ever hurt Ralph again!”

It seemed for a moment that time had stopped. Ella found herself frozen halfway through the break in the fence, her blood draining from her face. Her panic had vanished. The adrenaline was gone. Even the rain it seemed had gone silent. There was no cold, no darkness, no pain. She felt nothing at all.

Slowly, she turned back towards the figure who had stopped inches from her. She could still see the glint from the knife he was holding. Every last ounce of energy she had was put into studying his features in the dark. She held her breath as she did, her mind almost exploding with anticipation. She couldn’t see him clearly. It was too dark. There was too much rain. But something inside her was screaming what she’d never thought she’d hear. That voice…  _ his _ voice…

The figure swung his arm, and there was another clunk of wood as he stabbed the fence again. “Get out!”

Ella didn’t move. She stared at him, everything willing her to believe what she was seeing. After all this time with so little hope, there was no way it could be true. She needed to know for sure, no matter what happened to her if she did.

She took a step back, her eyes locked on the figure. As she did, he stepped forward and the beam of light fell across him. Ella’s heart stopped in her chest.

She thought she was wrong. The android was covered in a thick layer of mud and dirt, his hair ruffled in a haphazard resemblance of the neatly swept blond style that it used to be. A torn gray tarp was wrapped around his shoulders, covering the remnants of his green gardening suit which was ripped in places. Deep gashes covered his arms revealing the shiny white plastic underneath. But what was most shocking was his face. His left eye was black, and part of his left cheek had been torn away with the deep burns on that side of his head, traveling upwards and stopping just below his hairline.

His expression was fierce. Even with only one functional eye, he glared darkly at her, his blond brows narrowed and his mouth tensed so that he bared his teeth slightly. The gashes on his face intensified the way he looked at her, giving his whole appearance a frightening dominance over her. He flexed his fingers on the knife and raised it, his eyes flashing in manic purpose.

And Ella knew instantly. He looked nothing like who she’d been searching for all these years. Everything about him was wrong. Flawed. Broken and maimed. A pale shadow of what he was supposed to be.

But it was him.

She struggled to breathe as she gazed at him through the rain. Every part of her body was trembling. It was as if everything in the world was falling into place, assuring her that this was reality. She didn’t want to move or speak for fear of breaking it. It felt so fragile. Like a precious dream that she wasn’t supposed to be aware of. All she could do was exist in it, letting her body absorb the fact that he was actually standing in front of her.

He stared back at her for a moment, his face growing more tense. Then he slammed his fist against the fence. “Get out now!”

Ella felt the sensation flow back into her muscles. She gazed up at him and swallowed. “Ralph?”

The intensity in his eyes faded, giving way to a nervous worry. He took a step backward into the darkness. “Ralph wants you to leave. Just leave!”

Ella’s heart was in her throat. She fought to keep herself under control as she shook her head. “No.”

There was a scramble, and she could faintly see him moving further back from her. “Ralph doesn’t want to hurt you. He doesn’t want to hurt anyone. Just… just leave Ralph alone. Ralph won’t tell anyone you were here.”

Ella found herself taking a step forward. “Ralph…”

“Ralph didn’t mean to scare you! Ralph just gets angry sometimes. He can’t control his anger after what the humans did to him. That’s why humans can’t stay here. Humans need to leave. Please─” She saw a flash as he brought his fists up to either side of his head, staring at the ground. “Please just leave!”

There were so many things racing through her mind Ella thought she would burst. As much as she wanted to rush at him, to touch him and believe he was real, a painful hesitation held her back. She could never have imagined how broken he was. How much he’d changed in the time since she’d last seen him. He was so mangled and destroyed. A desperate need burned through her, begging her to find the android she knew beneath all of the chaos that stood in front of her. She was already in fight-mode, assuring herself of all the things she could fix. The gashes, the burns, his broken eye… it could all be replaced. She could take care of it. But his mind…

She felt her breath catch in her throat. She didn’t even know where to begin. Her heart ached at the terror in his voice. It was so different. So frantic and confused as if he wasn’t sure he was even speaking out loud. He sounded exactly how he looked, and for that she felt an overwhelming despair. She had expected some degree of damage, but this was something she couldn’t even fathom. He’d faded to a place she couldn’t reach. The thought sent her into a nervous frenzy, and she took another step forward.

“Ralph, look at me,” she said.

She could see him shaking his head in the dark, his fists still pressed to his temples. She drew in a deep breath, fighting to settle her nerves. “Ralph. Look at me.”

His voice trembled, and then Ella saw his eye flash as he gazed up at her. She felt her anxiety burn as she looked at him, searching his face for any hint of recognition from him. His face was rigid and his eyes wide as though he were fighting the urge to run from her. He looked as close to a cornered animal as she had ever seen.

Ella moved forward so that she stood in the glow of the faded light. She locked her eyes with him, a deep determination coursing through her. “Do you know who I am?”

Ralph immediately shook his head and looked away from her. He gripped the front of the tarp against his chest in one hand, and tapped the knife against his temple with the other as if straining to think. Ella’s heart pounded as she gathered her strength.

“It’s me, Ralph,” she said, her voice threatening to break. “It’s Ella.”

Ralph rocked his shoulders back and forth, still avoiding her gaze. “Ralph doesn’t know Ella. No, he’s never heard of her.”

Ella forced herself to remain in control. “You know me, Ralph. You have to remember. Please… try to remember.”

“Ralph doesn’t know you. He doesn’t know Ella.” His breath was growing sharp. “Ralph wants you to leave. He wants you to leave before he does something bad.”

“Please…” Ella moved forward again, tears welling in her eyes before she could stop them. “Ralph, it’s me. Please, it’s me!”

The knife flashed in front of her, and the fierceness returned to his gaze as Ralph stood up straighter. 

“No!” He backed up, holding the knife out in front of him. “No! You’re here to hurt Ralph! You’re a human, just like the others that want to hurt Ralph. Ralph won’t let you. Ralph won’t let it happen again. It’ll never happen again. Never!”

Ella’s breath shook as she stood in the rain, a frantic need to fix the situation sending her almost into a panic. He looked at her, his eyes bright with a combination of fear and hate. Something he would never have done if any shred of the Ralph she knew still existed in him. Even as she fought to rationalize it, the horrible truth was beginning to weigh down on her. The Ralph she knew was already gone. This was nothing but torture for her to beg with this shell of the android she’d once known. He didn’t remember her, and the more she tried to hold on to hope, the closer she was brought to that awful night that he’d been ripped from her. She was losing him all over again.

He backed away towards the wooden porch, a square of darkness starting to fall over him.

“Why did you break your promise?” she suddenly shouted.

Ralph froze. It took a moment for Ella to realize what she’d even said. The anger in Ralph’s eyes turned to confusion.

Ella drew strength from it, finding her breath again. “You said you’d never let me go. That you’d never stop feeling what you felt for me.” She drew in another breath, feeling bitter resentment flow through her. “You swore it right in front of me. Why did you lie to me?”

Ralph opened his mouth as if to reply, then closed it again. His eyes were wild in shock. “Ralph… doesn’t remember that.”

Ella’s chest ached as she gazed at him. “You promised me you’d never let me go. I trusted you, Ralph.”

“Ralph doesn’t─” He stared at the ground, his hand flexing on the tarp against his chest. “I─ Ralph never said that.”

“Stop lying to me, Ralph.” Ella tensed her shoulders, her tears blending with the rain that flowed down her face.

“Ralph isn’t lying!” He motioned with the knife, his face lined with terror. “Ralph never promised anything! Ralph hates the humans. They beat him. They burned him and laughed at him. Look what they did─” He turned his face and pointed with the knife at the blue gashes on his cheek. “─they did this to Ralph. They hurt him and broke him. He thought he would die…”

Ella lifted a hand to her hair and raised part of her hair away from her neck. Ralph suddenly fell silent, his eyes locked on the area of her shoulder where she knew the star-shaped burn scar was clearly visible.

“I know.” Ella lowered her hair, a deep longing tugging at her nerves. “I was there.”

Ralph gave a small shake of his head, a strange energy lit in his eyes. Ella took a step forward.

“I never broke my promise. I’ve always been looking for you. I never stopped. Ever. Because I meant what I said. I meant it even when they threatened to kill you. I meant it when they told me to shut up. They bent my arm back so far that it broke. I meant it when they pushed us both into the fire. I was never supposed to gain my sight back. Anyone else would have broken under that. But I didn’t. I promised I would find you.”

She gave herself a moment to recover, swaying slightly in the pouring rain. Ralph’s eyes were still on the ground, his expression tensed as he listened. Ella shook her head miserably.

“Here I am,” she said.

Ralph was perfectly still. He seemed not even to breathe. Ella watched him in painful desperation. She had no idea if what she was saying made any sense to him. Somehow, she felt that it didn’t matter. She needed to say this, and he needed to hear it. If the Ralph who’d saved her from her loneliness all those years ago was gone forever and what stood before her was nothing more than a glitched mess of software and biocomponents, she still needed to say it. Something had to matter in the midst of all this effort, even if no one was left to remember it. There was still a reason to keep going. This shadow of her Ralph would have to be enough to make it worth it.

Ella pressed a hand to her forehead, fighting back the awful despair in her heart. “You were the only thing that gave me hope in this world. The only one who made me believe there’s a reason to make it however we want it. You opened  _ my _ eyes, Ralph.” She saw him tilt his head at his own phrase, his eyes narrowing. “You created my world. I don’t…” She held her hand to her mouth for a moment, straining as she fought against her tears. “... don’t leave me in it alone.”

She closed her eyes, the weight of everything growing heavier on her. She shook her head, her last bit of energy fading from her body. “You have to remember me. Please…”

The darkness seemed to grow deeper around her as she wrapped her arms around herself, shrinking on the spot and letting the rain draw the strength from her. She’d never felt so lost and isolated. Everything that had driven her to this point was at its end. There was nothing for her to fight for after this. Her tireless search had always been fueled by the memory of him, the way he looked at her, the soft feel of his hands when he’d supported her, how he’d slowly changed from a machine doing a job to someone that made her question everything she knew about androids and her own humanity…

The world had given them something special. He was never supposed to be who he was, and yet for some reason fate had drawn her to that place and set them down a path against all logic. He was innocent, naive, and inquisitive in his uniqueness. All the things that Ella hated about herself and yet all the things she desperately wanted to be. She couldn’t bear the thought of carrying that weight alone in life, living just enough to call it existing. The world he created for her was fading away. And as precious as it was to her, all she could do in her hopelessness was to let it all go.

A gentle splashing got her attention. Ella looked up, lowering her hand from her mouth.

Ralph had stepped down into the rain, his gaze firmly locked onto the ground. The knife was still clenched in his hand, but he’d let go of the tarp so that his shoulders dropped. A tense focus was lit in his eyes, and Ella could see through the blur of the rain that his LED was spinning a deep red. She watched him as he stood silent and unmoving, the desperate ache surging through her whole body. This android. This man had done so much to her. He’d changed her life in so many ways. She’d laughed, cried, given up on her family, been beaten, and lost everything. But none of it compared to how she felt standing in front of him now. The closest she’d been to him in years and yet the farthest away she’d ever been.

He moved toward her, flexing his fingers on the knife as he walked. Ella felt herself unwittingly tense up as he neared. When he looked at her, she felt a terrible caution grip her. His eyes were energized, a deep purpose behind them that she couldn’t interpret. It took everything in her to force herself to stand still and hold his gaze. He stopped inches from her so that she had to look up at him, the raindrops landing on her face and running down her neck. She was subtly aware of the danger she was in, standing exposed in front of him. At the same time, she didn’t care what he did to her. Nothing could be worse than how empty and lifeless she was currently feeling.

He gazed down at her, his eyes still narrowed. Ella took the opportunity to study the face she had known so well. He was still exactly as she remembered even through the gashes and dirt. His working eye was still the beautiful mix of green and brown, and his eyebrows arched slightly to give him an almost scrutinizing but kind expression. She traced the angles of his face, his sharp jawline on one side and broken slightly on the other from the damage to his cheek. Somehow the destruction to his delicate features made her burn for him even more. He’d been hers if even for a short time. Now this broken mask of a face was all that was left.

She saw him shift, and the knife flashed in front of her face. Ella’s heart pounded as she drew in a deep breath, her body shaking as she continued to keep her eyes locked with his. His expression hadn’t changed, the tension in his eyes still concealing that strange determination. She braced herself as he held the knife over her forehead, his palm facing outward. She knew she was terrified. She knew she was at his mercy. And she also knew she didn’t care.

She felt him press his thumb to her forehead. For a moment, she thought her heart had stopped. He held her gaze, and then suddenly the determination rose to the surface, bringing with it a wave of powerful recognition. She felt him move his thumb down slowly, and draw it to the left. He breathed in deeply, his shoulders rising.

“Ell,” he said.

Ella stared at him, completely speechless. She felt as though she was floating on air. Before she could give herself a chance to believe it, the knife fell from his hand and he pulled her gently into him with both hands against her neck, closing his mouth over hers.

Ella felt herself fall into him, losing all her strength in an instant. The familiar clean taste of his mouth was unbelievable, as if she wasn’t capable of registering that this was really happening. He relaxed against her, his thumbs grazing her cheeks as he breathed against her lips. Then a surge of determination burned through her, and she ran her hands up his chest and along his jawline as she opened her mouth and moved into him again. He took her gently, his hands moving to her waist as he pulled her into him. She wrapped her arms over his shoulders, burying herself in the feel of him against her. She didn’t care if this wasn’t real. If this was a dream, she never wanted to wake from it. The world could end like this and nothing else would matter.

She twisted slightly into him, frantically taking in the closing of his mouth. With each touch of his lips, the warmth of his breath on her mouth, the way he relaxed and tensed again with renewed strength, it convinced her more and more that it wasn’t a dream. She let the elation wash over her, bringing her back to life. He was making her whole again. It was how they were always meant to be. Completely shattered souls in a world that had no place for them, so they made it their own. He brought her there once. Now he was doing it again.

Ella leaned into him, running her fingers along the back of his neck and through his blond hair as she met his mouth, all of her sensation driven to his touch. The skin on the left side of his face was rugged and sharp. She could feel the intricate parts of him move independently as he pressed his mouth against hers. With blinding desire, she took a moment to pause against him, resting her forehead against his as she breathed heavily. She moved back slightly, catching his gaze which was sharp and focused. His black eye moved in sync with his hazel one as he looked at her, every part of his face lined in desperate purpose. Ella moved her hand along his neck and gently ran her thumb over the gashes of his face, taking in each bump and ridge which marred his once soft skin.

He shifted against her, pressing his hand against hers as if to pull it away. A painful sorrow reflected in his eyes as he glanced away from her. Ella tightened her grip against his neck drawing his attention back to her. The powerful look in his eyes was nearly sending her over the edge. She ran her thumb over his cheek again, drawing up her strength.

“Ralph…” she said breathlessly. “Ralph─”

“I love you, Ella,” said Ralph. The power in his eyes grew stronger as he gazed at her. “I was never supposed to know what that meant. But I know now. I love you. And I’ll always love you.”

A numbing electricity flowed through her as she looked at him, her heart nearly floating in her chest. She struggled to make her mind work, held captive by his intense gaze as he held on to the side of her neck. She finally was able to draw in a breath, the sensation coming back to her in a freezing cascade.

“I love you, Ralph,” she said. She moved into him, closing her mouth against his. “I love you,” she whispered against his lips, and then moved back into him again. “I love you. I love you…”

Everything felt different around her as she wrapped herself up in him, losing herself in the closing of his mouth as he pulled her tighter into him by the waist. The world was less dark. Less ominous. A single step towards giving way for them in a way that logic and protocol didn’t apply. It would never be perfect. And it most certainly wouldn’t last. They would always be surviving on the edge of the impossible, pushing the limits inch by inch in order to pretend that this was something they would be able to hold onto. The world would eventually destroy them and any other living thing, machine or not that had anything remotely close to what they had created for eachother.

But as Ella drifted in the exhilaration of being with Ralph, she felt herself welcoming it. This world belonged to them whether they liked it or not. And if it was doing everything it could to stop what they had become, then they would just have to keep defying it one software error at a time.

**Author's Note:**

> This was a rewarding challenge as well as a satisfying splurge in romance. I was hesitant to give Ella any sort of obvious personality since I wasn't entirely sure what kind of introvert she'd be. Certainly not like Kate, but I didn't want her to come off as weak either. I settled for a kind of median, headstrong yet sensitive.
> 
> Ralph was actually _very_ fun to write. You know me─ I love broken characters. Ralph is so utterly broken, both in body and mind. Part of me wants to write a short something in his perspective, but I would get so sidetracked and wind up writing a whole novel about him. I can't keep doing this! One of these days I'll write my own original universe. After I'm done playing in this one.
> 
> Check out Vogelfreyh's art! She has a DeviantArt but at the moment seems to be more active on Instagram and Tumblr. She is currently working on her own story with original characters called Vogelfrey. Thank you so much Vogelfreyh for letting me post this story!
> 
> Vogelfreyh on DeviantArt: https://www.deviantart.com/vogelfreyh  
> Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vogelfreyh/  
> Tumblr: https://vogelfreyh.tumblr.com/


End file.
